John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif Meet in Munich

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian Foreign Minister, and John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State, met on Friday, February 6, during the Munich Security Conference. According to a Radio Farda reporter from Munich, the bilateral meeting focused on discussions regarding Iran's nuclear issues. Zarif arrived in Munich with his deputies to participate in the security conference and meet with his American and European counterparts from the P5+1 group regarding nuclear negotiations. An official from the U.S. State Department stated that Kerry and Zarif, along with their negotiating teams, engaged in discussions for over an hour in the presence of Helga Schmid, Deputy to Federica Mogherini, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs. The meeting concentrated on Iran's nuclear issues, emphasizing the need to reach a political framework by the end of March 2015. Zarif also met with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Foreign Minister, and the Foreign Minister of Oman on the same day. Additionally, Zarif is scheduled to meet with his French and British counterparts, as well as Federica Mogherini, on Saturday. Reports indicated that the initial plan was for Zarif to negotiate with his American counterpart on Saturday with the presence of negotiating teams; however, this was changed following an announcement by the U.S. State Department spokesperson that the Zarif-Kerry meeting would take place on Friday afternoon. The negotiations were held at the Bayerischer Hof hotel, coinciding with the commencement of the Munich Security Conference and under strict security measures. Meanwhile, news sources reported that Sergey Lavrov was traveling to Germany and would meet with John Kerry on Saturday, raising the possibility of a meeting between Lavrov and Zarif as well. On the other hand, while it was previously announced that the deputies of the Iranian Foreign Minister and the P5+1 would meet a day before the Munich Security Conference to discuss the conditions for the ministerial meeting, that meeting did not take place. The Munich nuclear negotiations are a continuation of discussions between the foreign ministers and deputies of Iran, the U.S., and six global powers held in Zurich and Istanbul. The head of the Iranian negotiating team stated that 'since not all the foreign ministers of the P5+1 are in Munich, a political agreement cannot be reached; therefore, we will only advance negotiations in Munich.' Munich is hosting the World Security Conference for three days starting from Thursday. In a related development, Radio Farda's correspondent, Hannah Kavyani, conducted an interview with Yuval Steinitz, the Israeli Minister of Intelligence, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. In this interview, Steinitz responded to the assertion that 'you are calling for the dismantling of Iran's nuclear program while your allies have accepted that Iran has a limited enrichment program,' stating: 'We are very sorry. We believe that countries made a mistake when reaching the initial Geneva agreement. Initially, we heard the world talking about a symbolic enrichment program for Iran with a few hundred limited centrifuges, which we did not accept; but now we see discussions about thousands of centrifuges. This could mean that Iran remains a country on the brink of acquiring nuclear weapons, which we consider dangerous.' According to Steinitz, 'the world must be more careful, and an agreement with Iran must ensure that this country is not just a few months away from acquiring a bomb, but that this distance should be several years.' He further stated that if Iran and the six countries reach an agreement that does not meet Israel's demands, they would discuss it. Steinitz reiterated that, as Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated, Israel will not accept Iran producing nuclear weapons, as the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khamenei speaks of destroying Israel and even another Holocaust, and that it is unacceptable for such extremists like Khamenei and Rouhani to acquire nuclear weapons, which threatens our existence. He concluded the interview by stating, 'We still say that reaching an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program is not enough; Tehran must change its behavior in the Middle East. Iran should not be giving so much money and weapons to various countries, weapons and money that belong to the Iranian people.' These statements from the Israeli Minister of Intelligence come at a time when the Islamic Republic of Iran has consistently emphasized its peaceful use of nuclear energy and Iranian officials have declared that they are not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons.